This morning, I finished the rough draft of the fourth
chapter of my forthcoming book, _Laboratory Apocalypse:
Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and
Virtual Reality_. This chapter is about how apocalyptic
visions from pop science books (Moravec, Kurzweil, et al)
have influenced online gaming culture.

With the completion, I now have nearly rough drafts of all
substantive chapters, with only a short introduction and a
conclusion to go! The project is wearing me down but I look
forward to having a complete draft soon (probably not before
I have to resume teaching on the 27th, though). It feels
good to make progress!

i tried to e-mail jim (swirling brain) but his address and
webpage don't work anymore.

here's the message i sent:

hi jim,

as a jew living in nyc (well, just outside right now,
actually), i'm disappointed to hear of your treatment on
your recent visit. most likely, you were treated badly
because they thought you were a non-orthodox jew. some of
the local orthodox communities think badly of those of us
who are not orthodox and are, well, less than welcoming
to us. i think that had they known you were a gentile you
would have received better treatment. that's usually the
case, anyway: you're friend who indicated the orthodox
welcome for outsiders is correct.